reconsider...: December 2005

reconsider...

Friday, December 30

more katrina myths de-bunked

the bogus media reporting of exaggerated and sensational claims became so ingrained in the american psyche that a musician who will be soon forgotten was compelled to ascribe racist tendencies on president bush (crooks and liars has the video).

along the same lines as a la times analysis [bugmenot login] awhile back, knight ridder examines the data of katrina deaths. an analysis of (albeit incomplete) data finds

For example, a comparison of locations where 874 bodies were recovered with U.S. Census tract data indicates that the victims weren't disproportionately poor. Another database, compiled by Knight Ridder of 486 Katrina victims from Orleans and St. Bernard parishes, suggests they also weren't disproportionately African-American.

while mother nature didn't discriminate along the lines of poverty and race, the elderly were disproportinially hurt

¶ - nitish @ 10:53 AM | 0 comments

de-bunking katrina urban legend

in the wake of hurricane katrina, the MSM was pretty happy with its coverage of the aftermath including a 're-discovery' of race and poverty. however, it soon became apparent that the media reported exaggerated claims of deaths, crimes and environmental impact. (nevertheless, spike lee still promises his sensationalist take)

given some time and perspective, several media outlets re-evaluate the situation surrounding hurricane katrina.

libertarian reason magazine examines several of the urban legends reported as fact by the MSM. an AP account of a helicopter being fired upon painted a picture of anarchy. upon contacting every organization with helicopters operating during katrina (including the coast guard which saved 33,000 people--terrible government response...), no credible report of a helicopter under attack was found.

reason continues to dispel myths such as 7 year old rape victims and piles of dead bodies in the superdome/convention center

From a journalistic point of view, the root causes of the bogus reports were largely the same: The communication breakdown without and especially within New Orleans created an information vacuum in which wild oral rumor thrived. Reporters failed to exercise enough skepticism in passing along secondhand testimony from victims (who often just parroted what they picked up from the rumor mill), and they were far too eager to broadcast as fact apocalyptic statements from government officials—such as Mayor Ray Nagin’s prediction of 10,000 Katrina-related deaths (there were less than 900 in New Orleans at press time) and Police Superintendent Edwin Compass’ reference on The Oprah Winfrey Show to “little babies getting raped”—without factoring in discounts for incompetence and ulterior motives.

with the benefit of time and perspective, reason concludes

At the same time, it is plausible that the exaggerations helped make the outside response quicker than it otherwise would have been, potentially saving lives. As with many details of this natural and manmade disaster, we may never know.

But in the meantime, truth became a casualty, news organizations that were patting their own backs in early September were publishing protracted mea culpas by the end of the month, and reputation of a great American city has been, at least to some degree, unfairly tarnished.

the unskeptical media envisioning a sensational story partially bares the blame

¶ - nitish @ 9:16 AM | 1 comments

Thursday, December 29

feigned shock

the la times appears to appear [bugmenot login] genuinely troubled by preliminary election results from iraq.

The myth of a unified Iraqi identity may have finally been laid to rest this month.
More clearly than any other measurement since the U.S.-led 2003 invasion, preliminary results from the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections show Iraq as three lands with three distinct identities, divided by faith, goals, region, history and symbols.

while these results fall short of optimistic desires for a more national result, the results are not entirely unexpected

[The preliminary election results] show a nation starkly fragmented into ethnic and religious cantons with different aims and visions.
Nine out of 10 Iraqis in the Shiite Muslim provinces of the south voted for religious Shiite parties, according to the early results from the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq. Nine out of 10 Iraqis in Sunni Muslim Arab areas of central and western Iraq voted for Sunni parties. Nine out of 10 Iraqis in the Kurdish provinces of the north voted for Kurdish candidates.

la times staff reporters Borzou Daragahi and Louise Roug invoke the MSM favorite anonymous source

"Iraq is still very much in a stage of identity politics"

despite being only 2 and a half years old, iraqi elections exhibit similar characteristics to american elections, a country 2 and a half centuries old. an examination of a 2004 election breakdown reveals some voting patterns by race, religious affiliation and region demonstrate divisions along "distinct identities, divided by faith, goals, region, history and symbols" that the la times laments in iraq.

back to iraq, i think the reason for these results derive from the national slate structure of elections thusfar. once elections become 'more local', the voting and representation may not have the 'stark differences' of these recent elections.

how else do you explain a 'loser' democrat getting elected in relatively republican nevada?

¶ - nitish @ 11:41 AM | 0 comments

anonymous animus

i realized the reason the fact that former president bill clinton authorized the rendition program has not made a big splash in the MSM over here...

the source isn't anonymous...
apparently, venerable news outlets like the NYTimes, Washington Post, LA Times, etc prefer their sources be nameless people unwilling to stand up for their beliefs (preferably placing the bush administration in a bad light)

despite the public's dislike of anonymous sourcing and the media 'ambivalence' over leaks (deemed good when it makes stories and sells papers, but bad when done by bush administration insiders), the media cannot wean itself off anonymous sources

here's a suggestion, save 'anonmyous' for STD e-cards

¶ - nitish @ 9:52 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, December 28

commercial icon lives on forever

Michael Vale, who played the Dunkin Donuts baker, passed away on christmas eve.

the "time to make the donuts" campaign lasted about 15 years, elevating the donut chain's visibility

¶ - nitish @ 1:17 PM | 0 comments

all in the 'family'

Phyllis Klingebiel needed a kidney due to a degenerative genetic condition. since no one in her biological family proved to be a match, she faced the prospect of years of dialysis while waiting for a kidney transplant.

navy man Mark Greshan stepped forward to offer his kidney.

"I'm forever indebted to this young man for this gift," Klingebiel told a newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark. "He's a walking angel on this Earth."

over the past 30 years, Klingebiel along with her husband Herbert took care of 67 foster children. Greshan entered the Klingebiel home at 7 years old, in their care for 11 years

"After six months, I knew this was my home," he said at the Klingebiels' house a day before the operation. "It wasn't 'foster child,' it was `son.'"

happynews.com (great idea for a website) serves up a picture of the happy mother and son

¶ - nitish @ 8:52 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, December 27

'fake but accurate' spreads

cbs-60 minutes-mary mapes-dan rather seemingly introduced the policy of "fake but accurate" during memogate. newsweek dutifully appropriated it during flushgate. the practice, long prevalent in movie pr and science, involves 'molding' facts to comply with a specific viewpoint.

the senior senator of massachusetts apparently adheres to this policy as well. when an anecdote he invoked to slam president bush turned out to be false, the wall street journal's best of the web details kennedy's response

Kennedy, meanwhile, apologized for slandering America's dedicated law-enforcement agents by portraying them as totalitarian thugs.
Ha ha, we fooled you! Here's the actual Kennedy response as reported by the Globe:
Laura Capps, a Kennedy spokeswoman, said last night that the senator cited "public reports" in his opinion piece. Even if the assertion was a hoax, she said, it did not detract from Kennedy's broader point that the Bush administration has gone too far in engaging in surveillance. [emphasis added]

...fake but accurate...

i very cynically add that occasionally kennedy expresses support for causes before he's against them, grasps at whatever may be politically convenient to make his point, or forgets some things when they are not convenient

¶ - nitish @ 4:39 PM | 0 comments

the revolution will be delayed

apparently, the tweaks to the nielsen ratings methodology lead to slower ratings numbers:
MONDAY NIELSENS DELAYED
(that link may get updated, but trust me...)

¶ - nitish @ 2:50 PM | 0 comments

Friday, December 23

adding insult to insult

my opinion of alotta people in the media is well known: out-of-touch, pessimistic, self-congratulatory (even when unwarranted), whiny...

add petty to that list.
an abc news reporter complains about dick cheney's mp3 recharging behavior...
while i don't agree with the thought, pieces on cheney's "imperial" nature have some value, not his plug etiquette

¶ - nitish @ 2:48 PM | 0 comments

way to stand up for principle

the ny transit strike appears over.

while there appear to be a few sympathetic voices who lazily bring up race and class in their apologist accounts. time even brought up the shakespearean "pound of flesh" regarding negotiations.

however, the ny post's ryan sanger takes another view in terms of class

[T]ere is a class confrontation of a kind going on — but it's not between rich and poor. It's between the working class and what might be called the government-worker class.
The gap between the two groups has been growing for a while.
The private sector has been groaning under rising health and pension costs for years....
Yet the benefits for public-sector workers keep getting fatter and fatter.
The reason is fairly simple. While only 8 percent of private-sector workers are unionized these days, some 40 percent of public-sector workers are unionized. And while the rigors of the free market forced private companies to become more efficient, the government faces no such constraints.
Instead, pliant politicians simply give the unions whatever they want, driving up health and pension costs — and sticking taxpayers (the ones trudging over the Brooklyn Bridge this week) with the bill.

the strike was essentially well-compensated workers taking an illegal action to garner even better compensation.

i don't believe the workers got the better of the pr war.

as for standing up for a principle involving public transportion, this action falls only about a little short of a truly principled action

¶ - nitish @ 12:37 PM | 0 comments

who pays for these things?

given the questionable nature of studies, i'm always surprised of the preponderance of them.

a study in the British Medical Journal finds that the best way to counteract a hangover is...not to drink (via the uk register).

but that seems groundbreaking compared to some british outfit (via the uk register) whichadvises that skimpy outfits could leave people susceptible to the cold

¶ - nitish @ 10:08 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, December 22

public humliation as punishment

following the example of some virginia deadbeat dad measures or going old school with the pillory, some european countries may allow music companies to publish names of some some convicted file sharers. to add insult to injury, the repeat offender infringers would be required to pay for the ad space outing their own guilt.

in a slightly different vein, a florida teen pled guilty to vehicular manslaughter which he admitted on his blog (via the uk register) during the aftermath of the accident.

unlike some internet companies which appear to get a free pass, individuals are still responsible for activity on the internet.

¶ - nitish @ 9:11 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, December 20

up, up and away

while the WB struggles [bugmenot login], the young man of steel show smallville has bounced back surprisingly well in a seemingly tough time slot.

a coupla years back, WB execs (sillily) moved solid ratings hit smallville to wednesday nights where it would soon get crushed by fellow genre show lost and undercut by demographic competitor america's next top model. the guys behind smallville weren't exactly thrilled when another move would lead to a face-off against ratings stalwart survivor, buzzworthy everybody hates chris and somewhat ailing alias and the oc

Instead, in a twist that has surprised the producers and challenged the conventional wisdom of the TV industry, "Smallville" has, in its fifth season, become a standout hit for the WB. The series is having its best season, up 28% compared with last year, with an average of 5.5 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

the move may have 'helped', but as a fan of the show the 'fortress of solitude' phase of the show deserves credit too.

WB execs appear to be looking to continue smallville's success with a partial aquaman spin-off springboarding off smallville

¶ - nitish @ 5:24 PM | 0 comments

nielsen finally acknowledges tivo

i mentioned this briefly before, but now details of the integration of pvr use into nielsen ratings become known. nielsen will begin publishing 3 sets of numbers for 'live viewing' / + same day playback / + playback within a week.

however, i didn't know the meager samplingI

Initially, the change will go nearly undetected. Next week, just 100 homes with DVRs will become part of Nielsen's sample of 9,000 homes from which national ratings are projected. [emphasis added]

so only 9000 homes outta 110 million households determine what we watch?

¶ - nitish @ 3:06 PM | 0 comments

we don't get french benefits

just like the guy in the fedex commercial, slate's fred kaplan is always wrong...
...about NK being a legitimate partner...about a 'breakthrough' in nuke program talks 24 hrs before they predictably fall apart...counseling defeatism in iraq...declaring the vote a disaster when iraqis didn't heed his advice...then suggesting the iraq-democracy experiment doomed...

now he suggests president bush openly declare war on the iraqi people

For a brief spell a few weeks ago, President Bush departed from his monochromatic view that the Iraqi insurgents consisted entirely of Saddamists aching for a comeback and jihadist terrorists aiming for a caliphate. He acknowledged a third—and much larger—group: "ordinary Iraqis" who simply oppose occupation. Now he seems to have dropped the complexity. "The mission of American troops," he said in Sunday night's speech, has been "fighting Saddam loyalists and foreign terrorists."

The omission of the third group—those who are fighting strictly against the occupation—is not a small matter. To ignore this group is to misunderstand the insurgency's dynamic, the main ingredient of its appeal, and the dilemma that underlies the stateside debate over whether to withdraw U.S. troops. [emphasis added]

is kaplan suggesting President Bush publicaly state that the "mission of the American troops" is to fight "ordinary Iraqis"?

how would that play on al-jazeera>?

putting aside the intensely stupid notion, the political process (that kaplan has pooh-poohed at pretty much every step, as noted above) is supposed to address the "ordinary iraqis", not military force.

and fellow slater wonders whether journalists are underpaid...

¶ - nitish @ 1:46 PM | 0 comments

oh, woe is us

evidence mounts that the news media is out-of-touch, overly pessimistic, self-satisified (even if not warranted)...
one theory chalks this up to the legacy of watergate...

now, Daniel Gross wonders "Are Journalists Underpaid?"
[granted, this piece may be a satire...but i didn't grasp that]
some of the high(or low)lights:

It could also damage journalism. The journalists who write these stories about people who can't afford to live in New York can't afford to live in New York, either. And that's a trend that may prove just as corrosive to establishment media as any disruptive technology.

or bogus reporting like nyt jayson blair, cbs memogate, cnn eason jordan saying military targets journalists,.... there's just too many corrosive elements

here's where i believe this must be satire, because it's so over the top

Journalists have long suffered from what David Brooks...identified as status-income disequilibrium. Journalists received low wages compared to many of their peers and neighbors but enjoyed higher prestige and job security.

one would think the prestige and job security would be enough to offset the perceived "low wages".

Most experienced reporters and editors at the publications in question earn salaries in the low six figures. They can expect salaries to rise by a few percentage points a year, if they're lucky. Salaries that barely pierce six figures certainly aren't insulting to most Americans. But everything is relative. A couple doing quite well—he's an editor at the Journal, she's a reporter at the Times—could make up to $250,000. But after New York taxes, New York child care, and New York housing, you're not left with much. In New York City, you can't buy a co-op or a condo with only 10 percent down. In most desirable suburbs, you can't buy a starter house for less than $700,000. When children arrive, the couple has to choose between living in an expensive town with good public schools (which means long, painful commutes), or the prospect of private-school tuition at $25,000 per kid per year. Given the types of lives many journalists wish to lead—and think they're entitled to lead by virtue of their education and positions—the wages aren't anywhere near sufficient. [emphasis added]

the best part is when Gross concludes that NY journos may be "bourgeois and ambitious"...

¶ - nitish @ 10:24 AM | 0 comments

Monday, December 19

2 late late show strategies

the late night talk show is a tough, fickle business...
just ask chevy chase, magic johnson, jon stewart, and bill maher...

being a fan of jimmy kimmel live (i have it on tivo season pass), i have witnessed several changes including removing the drinks, getting rid of weekly co-hosts, going 'unlive', changing the set
...alotta tweaks along the way

the strangest development was the ratings bump following jimmy...putting on a tie...

kimmel competitor craig ferguson has gone the other way [bugmenot login], going more casual. ditching the traditional yuck-a-minute monologue, ferguson goes more conversational and anecdotal. the article follows the evolution of a particular night's monologue

¶ - nitish @ 6:06 PM | 0 comments

examination of media bias

given the often slanted reporting, public perception of media bias remains well-founded...

a UCLA polisci professor's study (FWIW netlingo definition) examines media outlets for left-right/conservative-liberal bias (via drudge).

somewhat surprisingly, the wall street journal news division tilts left as does drudge(!)

"One thing people should keep in mind is that our data for the Drudge Report was based almost entirely on the articles that the Drudge Report lists on other Web sites," said Groseclose. "Very little was based on the stories that Matt Drudge himself wrote. The fact that the Drudge Report appears left of center is merely a reflection of the overall bias of the media."

quite unsurprisingly, the judgement of the MSM

"[A]lmost all major media outlets tilt to the left."

of particular note, is the attempt to compare news outlets with corresponding members of congress like senator joe lieberman, former senator john breaux

to insulate the study itself from charges of bias

The researchers took numerous steps to safeguard against bias — or the appearance of same — in the work, which took close to three years to complete. They went to great lengths to ensure that as many research assistants supported Democratic candidate Al Gore in the 2000 election as supported President George Bush. They also sought no outside funding, a rarity in scholarly research.
[snip]
The results break new ground.
"Past researchers have been able to say whether an outlet is conservative or liberal, but no one has ever compared media outlets to lawmakers," Groseclose said. "Our work gives a precise characterization of the bias and relates it to known commodity — politicians."

interesting all around

¶ - nitish @ 3:02 PM | 0 comments

when more is not better

studies (FWIW) of embryo implantation suggest the use of one embryo yields better results in terms of risk-reward. implantation and birth rates were similar whether one or more embryos were used. however, the use of a single embryo led to less risky pregnancies than multiple embryos.

i suppose fertility clinics prey on the frustration and hopes to extract more money from their clients

¶ - nitish @ 11:25 AM | 0 comments

sullied sport of boxing

another championship fight, another controversy...

a no-name russian guy is a heavyweight champion of the world, beating a guy who only got the title because the guy who beat him was stripped for a positive drug test (did you follow that...?)

¶ - nitish @ 9:27 AM | 0 comments

Sunday, December 18

silly myth repeated almost every year

with the loss of the previously undefeated colts...

the old miami dolphins-champagne myth will be bandied about all over the place...

it's a nice little story, but not necessarily true

¶ - nitish @ 5:58 PM | 0 comments

Saturday, December 17

when a hallmark just won't do

for those people who've contracted STD's, and have difficulty breaking the news to people, their prayers have been answered...

the anonymous STD e-card

the e-card options (some disturbingly sunny) abound

¶ - nitish @ 10:41 AM | 0 comments

Friday, December 16

headline-grabbing but weak

ny state attorney general eliot spitzer, certainly knows how to garner headlines, but not necessarily win cases.

spitzer has run into some trouble in his case against nyse head dick grasso, angering entreprenuer turned billionaire ken langone. langone dubs spitzer's tactics anti-business, going so far as to actively oppose spitzer's gubernatorial bid, in an increasingly personal battle

¶ - nitish @ 12:45 PM | 0 comments

unclean slate

slate's fred kaplan has an astonishing record on international affairs....

assigning equal blame in the on-again-off-again negotiations regarding north korea's nuke program, before suddenly realizing the NK dictator was a bit wacky, only to loudly proclaim a breakthrough just 24 hours before it fell apart.

shafer is establishing a similar record on iraq....
after stating the iraqi constitution had a
'chance at success', then declaring its passage a 'disaster' but a week later, his premature withdrawal fixation, shafer now downplays the parliamentary elections

this stuff is so pessimistic it seems like parody

¶ - nitish @ 10:30 AM | 0 comments

faking it

a korean scientist went public with a stem cell breakthrough about 6 months back.

apparently, it's much easier when you fake it [bugmenot login]. while specifics details of the lie are unknown, the ramifications will be widespread

If the work does prove to be largely fraudulent, it will be a major scientific setback for one of the most talked-about new avenues of biomedical research. It could also be a major political setback for the field, which has long been mired in controversy because it depends on the creation and destruction of human embryos.

unfortunately, chicanery like this may dissuade funding and support for future research

¶ - nitish @ 10:20 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, December 15

wacky wiki

i often use wikipedia as a quick reference...

however, since former journalist John Seigenthaler went public with a faulty entry, the site has been under fire. meanwhile, this site has been skeptical of the project all along.

in a bid to improve its system, wikipedia now requires registration to edit entries. at the same time, journal Nature vets scientific themed articles with relatively positive results.

[update: the uk register dashes the nature analysis with some perspective]

all in all, use wikipedia (and the rest of the internet) with some skepticism...
but who didn't know that already...?

¶ - nitish @ 12:38 PM | 0 comments

baby on board

arizona driver Candace Dickinson comes up with a novel excuse for driving in that car pool lane despite no apparent passenger....

she claims her pregnancy should allow for the exception to the rule.

her court date is in early january, but i wouldn't get used to the $350 pending in fines

¶ - nitish @ 9:57 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, December 14

no such thing as bad publicity?

kazakhstan has had enough with sasha baron cohen's hijinx, utilizing official means to combat borat's silliness.

now, the country has pulled borat's website from under him citing silly things like rules and regulations

[note: i'm not sure why this story interests me so much...]

¶ - nitish @ 2:21 PM | 0 comments

retro names

following the lead of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta, the 'silicon valley of india' Bangalore will change it's name to Bengaluru.

while the brits basically anglicized the names to make it easier for themselves, indian officials have steadily returned to more traditional names

¶ - nitish @ 10:32 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, December 13

unbroken and unbowed

despite prominent congressmen referring to the military as "broken", and open hostility by lefty cities and institutions of 'higher education'...

personnel numbers for the military still show strength.
confidence in the mission, perhaps best demonstrated by strong re-enlistment. the recruitment problems of the past spring appear to be rectified with healthy numbers as of late

¶ - nitish @ 1:25 PM | 0 comments

the 'next larry bird'

josh levin, slate's sports nut, examines the annoying sports media cliche to anoint the 'next larry bird'

The allure of the Bird comparison is that many of the qualities that made him great—his court vision, his anticipation, his leadership—are stereotypes associated with white basketball virtue.

levin includes reference to several 'great white hopes' like the duke big men, keith van horn, euro dirk nowitzki, even former bullet faves tom gugliotta. the players suffer the burden of comparison, and even bird doesn't particularly like the whole thing.

¶ - nitish @ 10:05 AM | 0 comments

Monday, December 12

speaking of mega corporations

business week online's atlanta bureau chief dean foust examines the current situation of hometown giant coca-cola.

foust suggests coke is essentially thinking too small, simply tweaking its lackluster marketing strategy or slight product tweaks (that don't necessarily work). foust doesn't suggest a core company changing move, but rather the pepsi strategy of broadened its product offering with fritolay. while pepsi's strategy has succeeded to the point it has eclipsed coke in some respects, the fear of diworsification looms...

¶ - nitish @ 1:01 PM | 0 comments

stating his case

former aol bigwig steve case left awhile back...

now, he suggests [bugmenot login] that little AOL-TimeWarner transaction he helped engineer be undone.

When the merger was announced, analysts believed that Time Warner's music, movies and magazines along with its cable systems would speed up AOL's transition from phone dial-up to broadband, and that AOL's Internet mentality would accelerate growth at Time Warner. Neither has occurred.

however, he takes the decidedly contrarian view that AOL was held back by the transaction, particularly due to the lack of true integration across the merged company.

following the example of some integrated media companies like vivendi universal and soon viacom, case prescribes a drastic corporate re-structuring along various business lines. case cites the success of warner music since it split from the parent corporation.

while there is a bit of revisionist legacy-saving rhetoric in there, there doesn't seem to be much of the fabled and often promised synergy among the divisions as currently structured.

¶ - nitish @ 12:18 PM | 0 comments

spending other people's money

the newspaper that covers congress, the hill details some of the extravagent spending on capitol hill.

each office gets about $1.2 million to essentially run their office (that's ~$3300 a day by the way). some of the trinkets include plasma tv's, herman miller chairs, and my favorite a $3000 auto signature machine.

of course, lawmakers could return any unused money back to the treasury (and taxpayers), but some of these 'perks' appear too valuable. the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) will soon release its study of legislative office spending habits.

i can't wait to see how little fiscal responsibility is out there
(on both side of the aisle)

¶ - nitish @ 10:41 AM | 0 comments

Thursday, December 8

xbox madness

the 'see no evil, hear no evil...' policy of ebay (and internet companies in general) continues.
ebay helps defraud people looking for the much sought after xbox 360. note the "This auction is not for a Xbox 360 game system, but a picture of one" disclaimer.

speaking of wacky xbox news, even microsoft's steve ballmer's kids can't get a deal on the systems and shell out the big bucks...

¶ - nitish @ 3:27 PM | 0 comments

control is relative

after the first coupla days of the saddam trial, several watchers suggest saddam has taken control of the proceedings...

a man complaining about underwear is not in control...

¶ - nitish @ 10:08 AM | 0 comments

Wednesday, December 7

poor poor yankees

i can't really explain it, but i get a sense of glee that the yankees lost loads of money this past season.

for the last several years, the yanks have vastly outspent other teams without world series success.

perhaps, the red ink explains the relative quiet of the team this offseason.

¶ - nitish @ 1:21 PM | 0 comments

the madness and the mania

march madness fans will be even more mad this time around as cbs will stream out-of-market games over the web through elite 8 games.

this way i can watch 2 or 3 games at a time for 12 hours straight...

¶ - nitish @ 10:11 AM | 0 comments

Tuesday, December 6

more super bowl entertainment controversy

the announcement of the rolling stones as super bowl half time entertaiment caused a hubbub in host city detroit.

critics expected the nfl to delve into local motown for talent. in an attempt to make-good, the nfl adds stevie wonder as pre-game entertainment.

¶ - nitish @ 3:00 PM | 0 comments

bad week for hillary

the ny daily news looks into $20 billion of 9/11 aid money secured by NY Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer

So whatever happened to the President's promise, which was later increased to $21.4 billion? And, what happened to the money we did get? Did it go to those who needed help the most? Or did some of it end up lining the pockets of the wealthy, the well-connected and hucksters who played the system?

Four years after 9/11, it is time to lift the veil of our collective sorrow and examine without sentimentality or fear of political incorrectness what was done with the generous commitment underwritten by American taxpayers.

the results are "sad and disheartening." the NY senators who requested the money should have been watching, but instead alotta money went to pork projects, giveaways, and (all but) fraud.

this $20 billion doesn't even include standard anti-terrorism money, nor $7 billion in victim compensation, nor any significant progress at rebuilding Ground Zero,

to make matters worse for hillary, she gets heckled at a seemingly friendly event for her (politically motivated) hawkish stance on iraq

¶ - nitish @ 10:32 AM | 0 comments

Monday, December 5

bad economy reporting

speaking of lame media...

the media's coverage of the strong economy has been rather abysmal.

in a surprisingly balanced story [bugmenot login] maybe recent changes will succeed where the previous interesting but failed attempt did not take), the jobs report is rolled up with other recent strong data to paint a picture of the economy.

The job boost is the latest evidence that the U.S. economy has shaken off the ravages of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the Gulf Coast and consequent higher gasoline and natural gas prices.

The government reported this week that the economy grew by a 4.3% annualized pace in the third quarter, far above the historical average near 3%. Other recent reports signaled strength in business spending, consumer confidence, new-home sales and retail sales.

but the NY Times mentions poll results [bugmenot login] suggesting bush does not get credit for the strong economy.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll last month found that 52 percent of Americans believe that the economy is getting worse, compared with 18 percent who think it is getting better. Sixty-four percent of respondents said the economy was not good or poor. A Harris poll last month found that 68 percent of Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track. Mr. Bush's approval rating last month for his handling of the economy stood at 37 percent in an Associated Press/Ipsos poll.

perhaps it's because the times all but demands the president mention iraq when talking about the economy....
or the times' incessant pooh-poohing of the economy

Moreover, Mr. Bush and his allies ignored or glossed over statistics suggesting that the economy, in the short run as well as the long run, faced big challenges.

in a wacky article, which clearly opines

By most measures, the economy appears to be doing fine. No, scratch that, it appears to be booming.

But as always with the United States economy, it is not quite that simple.

For every encouraging sign, there is an explanation.

despite all the silly nicknames implying credibility, the NY Times continues its slanted/biased and questionable behavior.

¶ - nitish @ 1:21 PM | 0 comments

skeptical of the skeptics

ralph peters, who excellently questioned the media's coverage of military personnel numbers, continues to slaps the media in general.

A SPECTER is haunting journalism: the specter of Watergate.

Three decades ago, two young reporters became the story and crippled American journalism.
[snip]
Overnight, journalism became an upwardly mobile profession — and our country is much the worse for it.

In place of the old healthy skepticism, we have arrogant cynicism. The highest echelons of the media and government became preserves for America's most-privileged. An Ivy League degree was the ticket to a reporting job on a major daily. And incest produced the usual ugly results.

"Mainstream" newspapers lost touch with American workers because the new breed of journalists didn't know any workers.
[snip]
The other product of the Woodward-Bernstein cult was the rise of the self-adoring conviction that journalists were above patriotism, the law and common decency.
[snip]
After Watergate, patriotism became an embarrassment among journalists. They're "citizens of the world."

to make his point, Peters mentions such luminaries as Bob Woodward, Judy Miller, Dana Priest. Peters concludes

As vile as Richard Nixon was, I'm no longer certain that Woodward and Bernstein did our country a service. The post-Watergate journalist's unexamined conviction that he or she is "beyond good and evil" has done far more evil than good.

Actions have consequences. Today's journalists refuse to accept that the rule applies to them. The wages of irresponsible journalism are death — for others. Expose a crucial clandestine operation, shatter a policy or wreck a struggling state, and you get a Pulitzer Prize. The motto of journalists today is "Nothing's ever our fault."

The republic suffers.

¶ - nitish @ 10:35 AM | 0 comments

Saturday, December 3

the kids these days

unfortunately not all kids are as productive as this one...

the bbc reports (via the uk register) some kids are torturing pets for their own enjoyment, video taping it for future enjoyment. animal torture is often considered a warning sign for future bad behavior.

on a much lighter note, some go out for a joyride (again via the uk register). the uk times chimes in with the best headline while another has the picture of the offender...

well at least they may be able stop smoking...

¶ - nitish @ 1:30 PM | 0 comments

still stinking after all these years

the story of fema's inneffectiveness has been told repeatedly. the democrats even tried to take advantage of the agency's tarnished reputation. but fema's missteps has not often been presented quite like this [bugmenot login]

The box that Jose Luis Porras Jr. refers to is a mobile home. He's glad to have a roof over his head, "but check it out," he says. "Is there any other shape to call it?"

The home is in a village of 152 trailers, divided into two clusters on the outskirts of this border town west of San Antonio. The Federal Emergency Management Agency assembled the village in the fall of 1998 to house the hundreds of evacuees, like Porras, whose houses were destroyed by a tropical storm that drenched this normally arid corner of Texas.

The village was meant to be temporary.

Seven years later, the village remains, with no plans to dismantle it. And, most disheartening for Porras, he and his family remain, along with a dozen other evacuee families who have no means of getting out.

Porras, 41, has been following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and news of the FEMA trailer villages being built for Gulf Coast evacuees. His counsel in one sentence: Beware the word "temporary." [emphasis added]

this story cannot be true...
because the then-fema director James Lee Witt who was appointed by bill clinton, dubbed a "miracle worker" by such a neutral source as clinton policy advisor bruce reed (also a DLC bigwig), supposedly turned around fema from its abysmal performance

In Washington, the common joke was that every storm brought two disasters: one when the hurricane arrived and the second when FEMA arrived.

however, several families have been stuck in housing intended for 18 months for seven years

¶ - nitish @ 12:45 PM | 0 comments

Friday, December 2

tv sked tweaks

after fox reconsidered moving it's terrible but ratings behemoth american idol--perhaps as a sly pr move, nbc shakes up its line-up to bring back the must-see tv comedy line-up to thursday night.

i'm not sure of the wizdom of putting perhaps the lone bright spot on its schedule, the quirky and funny my name is earl, against ratings juggernaut csi...

but i'm sure nbc knows what it's doing....well, maybe not as a distant 3rd is pretty bad...

¶ - nitish @ 12:58 PM | 0 comments

Thursday, December 1

selective news reporting

with the shake-ups in tv anchors involving tom brokaw, dan rather, peter jennings, and just recently ted koppel, alotta avid newswatchers look ahead...

ny magazine does a whole 'next big star' piece and focuses a bit on anderson cooper

Life is tough for television news anchors these days, especially the ones who aren’t Anderson Cooper. Even Cooper’s having it rough lately; at last count, he’s down to only three or four fawning media profiles a week.

Much as the news chiefs might not want to admit it, Anderson Cooper is the best hope for the future

forget the fact that the best cnn can say is that he's getting beat by less...or that greta outdraws him by a million viewers...cooper is doing worse than the aaron brown, the guy he replaced...

...that's quite a star...

¶ - nitish @ 4:47 PM | 0 comments

doctor who in america

being one of the few statesiders to have seen the bbc's new doctor who, any news of US distribution hits my radar screen.

with the second season approaching (with a new doctor), the bbc plans to issue dvd's in the US before securing a traditional tv outlet. perhaps, they are looking to follow the family guy, firefly and (in a way) the chappelle show, with solid dvd sales leading to better things down the line.

¶ - nitish @ 10:12 AM | 0 comments